Category Archives: RxCalc

Pitfalls of App Store Reviews

App Store, RxCalc

I believe it was Marco Arment that gave the advice “Don’t read App Store Reviews”, or something to that effect, and I can see why. For RxCalc they’ve typically been fairly poor. Some have provided great feedback that lead to changes in the applications, but recently we received a review that left us scratching our heads. Here’s the review.

This program really underdoses all my patients. It predicts troughs of 20 and 25 with normal doses. I used it just the other day and it predicted a trough of 26.4 and I got an actual trough of 14.7–no changes clinically with the patient. This program is crap. Good thing it only cost 99 cents!

Can you see the problem facing an app developer with a review like that? Actually there are many problems with it. Here are the two biggest, as I see it.

  1. It doesn’t provide any meaningful feedback – We can’t reproduce the “problem” or fix it.
  2. We have no way to contact the user to see if we can help.

I really wish this user would’ve contacted us via our support e-mail address. We’re very confident our math is correct, we spend a lot of time verifying the results, it’s what makes the application useful. I’d venture to guess this is a configuration issue, but alas, we’ll never know.

We’re grateful for our users and we want to make their experience the best they’ve ever had. RxCalc should help you do your job, not hinder it. We like the feedback, good or bad, and love when it leads to improvements in the overall usability, and performance, of the application.

It’s disappointing when we see a review in the App Store like this because we can’t help this user solve their problem.

Introducing RxCalc 1.1

Pharmacokinetics, Pharmacy, RxCalc

RxCalc 1.1When we released RxCalc 1.0 we felt the need to focus most of our effort on making sure our math was correct. We felt if the standard user interface was good enough for Apple, it was good enough for us. Since that time we’ve collected a bit of feedback, some great, some not so great, and a couple of really horrible comments that made us cringe. Fear not! We picked ourselves up off the ground, regrouped, and went to work on RxCalc 1.1. We hope you enjoy using it as much as we enjoyed developing it.

What’s New in 1.1?

Options

  • User configurable Units of Measure
    1. Height
    2. Weight
    3. Serum Creatnine
  • Configurable Volume of Distribution
    1. Aminoglycoside
    2. Vancomycin
  • Less rigid scrolling
  • Less rigid data entry

The big addition is the user configurable Units of Measure and adjustable Volume of Distribution. These should help folks outside the United States and gives flexibility to those that would like to modify the default Volume of Distribution values. We’re also really happy with the new navigation experience. Version 1.0 was a bit rigid, we’ve changed that. You can now freely move between entry fields and scroll top to bottom with complete freedom, while the keyboard is showing.

Oh, yeah, it also has a great new icon! Courtesy of our good friend, Mr. Layne Lev.

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

App Store, RxCalc,

When we released RxCalc we did what most companies do, we setup a page for the application and made sure we listed various different contact addresses on the page as well as creating a contacts page. We had hoped we’d get feature requests, support requests, and constructive criticism. What we’ve discovered is our users don’t really provide much feedback. We’ve had some, but not a lot. We have, however, had a few folks give feedback on iTunes. Some great, some not so great. It’s been a strange ride and I thought I’d share some of that feedback here.

The Good

“I’ve been using this app for a week or so, comparing results to a program I’ve used on my Palm for several years. The two calculate very similar results, and I find myself using RxCalc more and more.”

This user actually sent us a direct e-mail with a feature request. He was interested in better options, like being able to enter height in centimeters and being able to adjust the Volume of Distribution value. Just the kind of feedback you hope for, and he asked for something that would make his experience better. Great stuff.

The Bad

“The interface is rigid and clunky…”

Rigid and clunky, ouch. This feedback has actually been quite helpful. We’ve made changes to an upcoming release to address this very problem. We’re hopeful this user will be happy with the change, if he’s still using RxCalc. If he’s not, we hope he gives it another try.

The Ugly

“Does not work. Interface is clunky and gives me error messages when I put in values. I don’t believe for a minute the positive reviews are real. Cannot use product nor would you want to trust calculations (if you can get them from the app!) in a clinical setting. If it smells like garbage, works like garbage, and looks like garbage, it probably is.”

This review just makes us cringe. We know exactly what this user is talking about. The UI in 1.0 is rigid, we thought it was a good thing but it turns out that wasn’t such a great idea. In trying to protect the user we made some mistakes. Those have been addressed in the next release.

For our 1.0 release we focused heavily on the math and tried to keep the UI as simple as possible. Most of the feedback we’ve received has been UI related and we’ve concentrated on those issues. The math has been solid and is something we haven’t taken lightly.

What can you expect?

I think it’s safe to say we’ve addressed these issues in the next release. We hope our users are happy with the changes, and we think you will be.

Relief for Haiti, update

Charity, RxCalc, Special

Aid!Good morning! It looks like yesterday’s Indie+Relief effort was a huge success! Even though we blew it and didn’t get in on the official program we decided to do what we could. We’re sending $50.00 to Doctors without Borders in the name of our users. We’d like to extend our whole hearted thanks to everyone that participated in the various efforts around the Mac Indie scene yesterday.

We’re very small, and the dollar amount we’re sending seems small, but every little bit helps.

THANK YOU!

Relief for Haiti

Charity, RxCalc, Special

The Mac and iPhone Indie community have put together a relief effort for Haiti called Indie+Relief, brought to you by Second Gear Software and Garrett Murray. Apple Core Labs tried to participate but we were just too late due to an overwhelming response, and our lateness to join the effort. Fear not! We’re going to join the effort, just not through Indie Relief.

What does that mean?

Quite simply this. Apple Core Labs will donate all proceeds from sales of RxCalc on January 20, 2010 to Doctors Without Borders to help the people of Haiti.

If you’ve ever considered purchasing RxCalc now would be a great time to give it a try and in the process you’ll help people in need.

Also, while you’re here, take a look at all the great software being offered by Indie Relief, and pick something else up to help fight the good fight!

Thank You.

Got Pharmacokinetics?

App Store, Kinetics, Pharmacy, RxCalc

RxCalc IconThe year is coming to an end, so why not celebrate by purchasing a copy of RxCalc for your iPhone? There’s still time to buy before the end of the year and at $0.99 it’s a real bargain! At least we think it is.

So, what do you get for less than a buck?

  • New Start – Vancomycin and Aminoglycoside.

  • Adjustment with Levels – Vancomycin and Aminoglycoside.

  • Ideal Body Weight

  • Creatinine Clearance (CG)

That’s just the 1.0 release. We have more features planned for the next release and we’d LOVE to hear from our users, just drop us an e-mail at support@applecorelabs.com, it’s that easy.

If you’d like more information on RxCalc, just visit the RxCalc product page. If you’d like to purchase RxCalc, visit the iPhone App Store.

The RxCalc Promotional has come to an end

Promotional, RxCalc

Our “FREE for the day” event has come to a close.

Thanks very much for downloading RxCalc, giving it a spin, and pushing it to the #12 spot in the Medical Apps Category!

Based on the success of this event we’re going to drop the price from $5.99 to $0.99!

I’d like to encourage those of you that took advantage of our little giveaway to please provide us with any feedback you may have, good or bad. We’re committed to improving RxCalc so your feedback is important to us. So, please, drop us a line at support@applecorelabs.com, or one of our other contact addresses, let us know how RxCalc is working for you, and thank you for your continued support.